Heart Eyes (Blu-ray Review)
- Review Date: Apr 30, 2025
- Format: Blu-ray Disc
-
Director
Josh RubenRelease Date(s)
2025 (April 15, 2025)Studio(s)
Spyglass Media Group/Divide / Conquer (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)- Film/Program Grade: B
- Video Grade: A
- Audio Grade: A
- Extras Grade: B
Review
Heart Eyes is an unusual thriller. It combines two horror subgenres—the slasher flick and holiday terror—with elements of romantic comedy. And its main characters are two smart people rather than the blundering victims of typical horror films.
A serial killer, tagged “Heart Eyes” by the media, has been murdering amorous couples in several cities on Valentine’s Day for several years and so far has eluded capture. Now, he’s preying on the unsuspecting in Seattle. Ally McCabe (Olivia Holt) works in the city’s advertising firm. She’s still smarting from a recent breakup and her latest pitch for a commercial met with ridicule for featuring doomed couples. To help her out, her boss (Michaela Watkins) hires a consultant, Jay Simmons (Mason Gooding).
Time is short, so Olivia and Jay arrange to discuss the ad campaign over dinner, but their meeting doesn’t go well and ends abruptly. As they leave the restaurant, Ally runs into her former boyfriend and his new girlfriend. Ally pretends that Jay is her new boyfriend. Jay goes along with Ally’s ruse and they wind up kissing.
The kiss is observed by the Heart Eyes killer (Alex McColl) and Ally and Jay become his next victims. As they cooperate to escape the obsessed murderer, they get to know each other better. It turns out that Ally isn’t your typical screeching damsel in distress, frozen in place, waiting to be dispatched. She’s pretty adept at defense and Jay, too, shows a heroic side.
The killer is a combination of Jason from the Friday the 13th franchise and Michael Myers from the Halloween films. Like these iconic killers, Heart Eyes favors sharp weapons and wears a mask to hide his identity. His distinctive touch is the glowing hearts that cover his eyes, creating a creepy image. We see one scene from the killer’s point of view—red-tinted images suggesting night vision, a valuable asset for stalking victims well after sundown. Despite this advantage, the killer winds up killing random people in order to get to Ally and Jay, since his frustration at being foiled in his mission seems to have emboldened him to slash out, literally, at any unfortunate to be in his destructive path.
Though there’s plenty of bloodletting in Heart Eyes, the film is atypical in that it spends considerable time with the romantic angle, allowing us to get to know Ally and Jay. They’re intelligent as well as attractive and don’t make the usual dumb decisions and clumsy moves that drive viewers crazy, such as venturing into dark basements and finding obstacles to fall over when running from the killer.
The structure of the film leads to some jarring moments when quiet, dialogue scenes are interrupted by shocking appearances of the killer and Ally and Jay switch from romantic to self-preservation mode.
Special effects are quite good and reflect considerable ingenuity and time. A few stand out for their believability and the expertise needed to pull them off, and are highlights of the film. Without the usual glut of horror effects, the ones that do appear are all the more impressive. A particularly notable scene is staged at a drive-in movie with a slew of extras and lots of mayhem as Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell exchange banter on screen in His Girl Friday. This scene reflects impressive production value, not generally a strong point in low-budget horror flicks. Glimpses of the movie magic used to create the grisly illusions can be seen in the enclosed making-of featurette.
For all the film’s strong points, the finale is disappointing. It seems the writers had no idea how to tie things together and settled for a lazy conclusion. It’s a shame, since the rest of the film is inventive and, though not entirely original, it’s engaging and develops empathy for the two central characters.
Heart Eyes, lensed by director of photography Stephen Murphy, is presented in the aspect ratio of 2.39:1. For a film shot mostly in the dark, details remain sharp and distinct. The restaurant scene features soft lighting contributing to a romantic mood. Special effects of Heart Eyes’ kills spill floods of fake blood, but the camera doesn’t dwell on the gruesome images. Earlier scenes are edited at a leisurely rate, but when Ally and Jay are targeted, the narrative is brisk, with quicker cuts.
There are several soundtrack options: English, French, and Spanish 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, and English and French Descriptive Service. Dialogue is clear and distinct. Jay Wadley’s score contributes to some suspenseful sequences and ramps up excitement in action scenes. Sound effects include various sharp weapons impaling victims, grunts, screams, crowds panicking, police sirens, and heads accidentally clunking. Subtitle options include English, English SDH, French, and Spanish.
In addition to a Digital Code on an insert contained within the packaging, bonus materials on the Blu-ray release from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment include the following:
- Audio Commentary with Josh Ruben, Olivia Holt, and Mason Gooding
- Murderers & Meet Cutes: The Making of Heart Eyes (7:53)
- Gag Reel (2:43)
- Deleted Scenes (5:13)
- Tarot Preview (1:50)
- Thanksgiving Preview (2:32)
Commentary – Director Josh Ruben’s commentary is more a self-congratulatory account than a series of anecdotes about the genesis, preparation, making and post-production stages of Heart Eyes. He says that he made the original pitch for the film on Valentine’s Day, 2024, and was surprised when his concept for the killer was received without pushback. He’s proud of having thought up the utility belt—a carpenter’s belt that the killer fills with sharp objects to use as weapons. There was discussion about how vocal Heart Eyes should be, and it was decided that he would grunt and make sounds of pain occasionally. Ruben identifies or gives clues to Easter eggs—references to other films—and uses the term “stitching” for the splicing together of studio and location shots. The originally conceived ending was altered when his wife suggested one that would work better for the dramatic arc.
Murderers & Meet Cutes – Director Josh Ruben, actors Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding, and crew members discuss their experiences making Heart Eyes. Behind-the-scenes footage shows the setting up of special effects and the use of prosthetics, mannequins, and a stunt team to make scenes look realistic. Clips from the film are shown.
Gag Reel – Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding sit together looking at a laptop reacting to outtakes as we see them. Most involve the two actors laughing or blowing their lines.
Deleted Scenes – Five scenes that do not appear in the final film are included. They are Monica’s Pep Talk; Ally Finds Hobbs; Ally and Jay Find Shaw; Meet Arthur; and Monica & Crystal Toast.
It’s tough to make an entirely original horror film. By balancing a romantic subplot with slasher violence, Heart Eyes director Josh Ruben sets his film apart from cookie-cutter scare films that showcase a half-dozen elaborate kills and a build a plot built around them. The central characters are engaging and the actors portraying them have nice screen chemistry. Avid horror fans might resent the romantic scenes’ taking screen time away from additional horrific kills, but the developing relationship between Ally and Jay keeps the plot interesting and portrays them as intelligent individuals rather than cliches. If you ask your friends, “Did Cary Grant ever appear in a horror film?” only those who have seen Heart Eyes will know the answer.
- Dennis Seuling